[1] From 1987 to 1990 she was a minister in the municipality of Río Gallegos, leading on public health, education, culture, social action, recreation and sport.

She resigned in 1995 to stand for Mayor of Río Gallegos but lost and worked in the Argentine Senate advising on education and family matters, returning to her ministerial position between 1997 and 2003.

In May 2003, Néstor Kirchner became president and appointed his sister to his cabinet in a similar position she held under him at provincial level.

[3] Archived 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine Ultimately, however, Kirchner remained a minister following the 2007 elections (and Daniel Peralta became governor of Santa Cruz).

In 2015, Kirchner ran as a FpV gubernatorial candidate again under the "Siempre Santa Cruz" slate with Pablo Gerardo González as running mate, winning the governorship with 51,797 votes, defeating the rival FpV slate "Santa Cruz Somos Todos" and other party candidates.